Mission Update 2/11/09 -- First Week in Frankfort

We heard from Elder McMullin this morning. Looks like he's going to get fed more often now! Here's his email:


Hi everyone!
I'm doing great! My new companion is Elder Wiser, from Kaysville, Utah. He's a really cool guy, and I'm excited to be here with him. We're living with some members in Mokena, which is right south of Tinley Park, and Orland Park.... Which is where Elder Gardner is. We are on the border of the Chicago Zone and the Joliet Zone though... Which have the same boundaries as the Chicago Stake and the Joliet Stake. Unlike heavy LDS areas, our Zones are pretty much just Stakes. In Chicago, we actually have 2 Zones (Chi-Eng & Chi-Spanish) for one Stake. But yeah, here I am back in the Joliet!
I was REALLY disappointed to leave the Stockyards. I thought for sure that I would be staying there, and at the very least, Elder Gardner would. We worked so hard, and got that area rolling better than it has in as long as anyone here knows... Then we get double transferred out. It was pretty confusing, because the same thing happened to Elder Atwood and Elder Maliwauki in Cicero too. Ugh. But it's alright, I trust that the Lord will take care of the investigators and members in the area. I love them so much, but I know that my place is now in Frankfort. I can just be satisfied that I made it out of there alive...
Which is actually a pretty good accomplishment! I didn't say too much of the crazy stuff that happened there, because I didn't want you to be scared or anything, but it was nuts. Stockyards is THE crap area of the whole mission, and isn't a very safe place... Unless you're working for the Lord. There are a lot of gangs, drugs, and other ridiculous things. But suffice it to say, we met some interesting people. We narrowly missed so much, it was ridiculous. Definitely a testimony builder of how the Lord keeps us safe. We only got a gun pulled on us once, and it wasn't a big deal, so we were fortunate. But anyways, it is a little comforting to be out of that. Don't worry, there isn't anywhere in the mission I can go and be in danger. The majority of the crime light streets are in the Stockyards, so I'm good... Especially here in Frankfort, which is REALLY nice.
So yeah, here's the weekly news...
Wednesday was pretty good. We woke up, emailed, did some packing, then headed over to visit Gardner's grandma's cousin, Beulah Brooks. She lived a block or two away from Obama in a NICE apartment. It was one of the most awesome houses I've seen; I think I'd rather have her house than the Mahon's top floor penthouse. But anyways, it's a condo in Hyde Park where you walk in to a Victorian style lobby. After you get buzzed in you walk through another door, and look at all of the ridiculous paintings. Then you can either walk up the stairs to one of the 3 condos, or take the elevator. There's decorations everywhere when you walk, but the elevator is really cool, so it's a tough choice. Then you get in, and see more Victorian deco, including busts, clocks, ancient looking art in museum display cases, maps, crown molding with crown molding on it, brick walls, etc, etc, etc. Then you walk into the next room, which hangs out side and is filled with light... Then you go to the kitchen, the maids quarters, the master suites (yes, that's plural), the other bedrooms, the bathrooms, the closets, etc. It was really big. [After looking at the house] we drove to a nice restaurant and had lunch. Then we left, came home, packed some more, then got ready to go say bye to people. We went and saw Hector and Elizabeth, and took pictures (which I sent, but I don't think they went through). Then we went and said bye to William. He was pretty sad we were leaving, but we promised to keep in touch. He finally is gaining a testimony, so that was exciting to see. Elder Gardner and I both wrote our testimonies in the Book of Mormon Mom wrote her testimony in, and gave it to him. He was pretty glad to get that, and promised to continue reading and praying about it. I really hope he gets baptized this transfer so I can go back to it. He's such a great man, and I'm so grateful I had the opportunity to help him progress towards salvation. After that, we made good bye calls, then came home. When we were home, I got to work. The biggest problem for double transfers is no one leaves records of who's being taught. We had kept the area book mostly updated, but I started making an extra record just to be safe. I wrote about 8 pages on who's being taught, what to teach them, who to have call them, who's scheduled to be visited within the next week, and basically just what's up in the Stockyards. It took a long time, but it will be a great help for the new missionaries in keeping that place running.
Thursday was the big day... We left for the Church at about 745, then waited around for the Cicero Elders to let everyone in the church. It was really good to see all the missionaries there. I hadn't seen Adair or Na'a in a long time, so it was fun to catch up with them. They finally gave in, and rooted for the Cardinals in the Superbowl... HAHA. That was funny, because they would always talk trash about Kurt Warner, but Adair likes the Broncos, so that didn't go anywhere. So, I was there, met my new companion, then all the missionaries went to Freddie's. I've probably told you before, but Freddie's is this Italian / Pizza / Hamburger place which is really good... And for some reason, everyone goes there after every single transfer meeting. After Freddie's, Elder Wiser and I drove to the Stockyards apartment, and loaded my stuff into our 08 Malibu. Nice! Elders Baum and Richmond, who are serving in Watseka, followed us from there down to Monee, then went down to Outer Darkness (Watseka). We came to Frankfort, where we live with the Swensons. They're an old couple, and are really nice. They're retired, but work at the bishop's storehouse, and the temple (which has been closed for a couple months). They're REALLY into being healthy.
Ok, so I just had to switch computers because some dude needed the scanner, which happens to be connected to the computer I was on... But I'm back, and writing again.
Friday was a really good day too. I had my planner filled with things for my last area, so I didn't write anything in for Frankfort. I do remember that we visited a part member family though, and they were pretty friendly. At least the wife was. Other than that, we found out that the most recent convert in the Branch got incarcerated for shoplifting. It was pretty sad news actually.
Saturday was good. Actually, we found out that jail news on Saturday. We taught one of his roommates a lesson, and it was pretty interesting. He got super freaked out about the Restoration and told us, "Holy S... Wow... Oh man, I have to go eat my hamburger." He said he'd come to church though, and wanted to learn more, but it was funny. We also taught someone else a lesson, but I didn't write down who, so that's all I know for the day... Except we went and played basketball with the Elders Quorum! They just started this week to play at one of the local high schools. The schools here in the Lincoln Way area are RIDICULOUS. Compared to these schools, Desert Vista is ghetto. The school we played at had a huge indoor pool and an enormous field house with a full size indoor track and a ton of courts. They also have a "1 row less than professional level seating" auditorium, and a bunch of other incredible amenities. It was pretty fun to be there, and was definitely worth 3 dollars.
Sunday was really good. This branch has about 50 people coming, but is super strong. It is fairly small, but is really functional, which is a great accomplishment for a branch in Illinois. The branch is filled with talented people, and they are starting to become more missionary minded. They have had pretty high goals, but haven't had a baptism, or much success, in a really long time. They just got their numbers for last year, and were pretty shocked to see how poorly they did. They saw that, and are now excited to kick it up a notch. The MCM was great, and super organized. This branch is pretty much going to be awesome. We've got a lot of members willing to go on splits with us, and get fed really often. We started a new dinner calendar, and already have about 5 meals a week lined up. It was also really awesome, because I had already met most of the ward from a service project I got suckered into on exchanges. They remembered me, and have been super friendly though... So it was great. After this awesome Sunday, I was still really homesick for the Stockyards though. It was strangely hard to leave my last area.
Monday was a very good day. Monday got me really excited to be here in Frankfort. We visited Sharon, who's the investigator here... She wants to be baptized really bad, but has had trouble quitting smoking. She's been discouraged, but we had a good talk with her, and hopefully she'll quit soon. We also had an appointment with some Jehovah's Witnesses. It was pretty interesting to hear their points, and it wasn't as bad as everyone says it is. It ended up with me promising to sincerely pray to know if their church was true, and them promising to read the testimony of Joseph Smith, and to do the same for ours. After that, we had a lesson with a less active, then got ready for our dinner appointment. We went over to the Guymons, and I saw a strangely familiar picture on their fridge. Their daughter, Christine Guymon, was in my Freshman Academy at BYU! It was pretty ridiculous to meet the family of a friend from school, but they were super nice. Brother Guymon is the assistant dean at the University of Chicago, and is really cool. Sister Guymon is an actress, and the Stake Young Women's president. She's super nice too, as is their son. They cooked us a great meal, then after talking for a long time, we taught them a lesson. They committed to coming up with a list of people to share the Gospel with. We're going to follow up, and then help them come up with ways to introduce these families to the Church.
Tuesday was great too. We had President's Interviews and District Meeting. It's always interesting when Sister Roach is there, and this time we learned how to lead music. I was fortunate enough to get 2 packages, including one completely stuffed with candy, and a Donald Trump tie! Thanks! :) And, I got a letter from G & G, which was filled with a lot of awesome stuff! Thanks!!! I really appreciate these Valentines Day gifts! Elder Wiser and I are going to get some pizza soon, so that will be really nice too. [G&G, also known as Grandma and Grandpa :) sent him a Pizza Hut gift certificate for Valentine's Day.] After the meeting, we went to have a district lunch at Taco Bell. So, here's the district: Elder Birkett (from California) and Elder Church (the District Leader from Utah) in Bourbonnais, Elder Baum (from Utah) and Elder Richmond (from California) in Watseka, and Elder Wiser (from Utah) and Elder McMullin (from Arizona) in Frankfort! It should be a pretty sweet district. After lunch, we drove up here and taught the Branch President and his family a lesson on Faith. Actually, we tried to prepare for an object lesson, but that didn't work... If you take a certain kind of herbal tea bag, and light it on fire while holding it on your palm, it burns pretty fast. It goes all the way from the top, and looks like it's going to burn your hand, but then it floats into the air, and flies away. I had learned it from the Webbs, who live in Bourbonnais, so I called them and got the info... Then we went and bought some herbal tea, and attempted to get it working. We ended up sitting in the Target parking lot dumping out Apple Cinnamon Tea, lighting stuff on fire, and burning our hands for 15 or 20 minutes. It was a pretty epic failure. We eventually just consigned to the fact that it wouldn't work, and drove to the Hunsakers. We had a good lesson, gave them a commitment, then drove with the President to visit Sharon. We had a good lesson over there, and she committed to go to the addiction recovery class on Thursdays. It was great. After that, President took us to some burrito shop, and bought us "baby burritos," which had to have weighed over a pound. Then he dropped us off at home, and we got ready for the next day.
Today has gone well so far. Elder Wiser and I played checkers for a while, then came here to the library. The rest of the district is going to come up here to play basketball in the Mokena field house. It should be really fun. We've got a dinner appointment tonight, and then are planning on going to mutual. After that we'll make a lot of calls and set stuff up. It should be a good day!
Anyways, I love you so much, and am so grateful for all of your support. If there's ever anything I can do for you, please let me know! I hope you haven't gotten bored by this long letter... If you want me to cool it next week, let me know. Anyways, I'm happy to be serving the Lord in Frankfort, Illinois! There's a lot to be done here, and Elder Wiser and I are ready to get some work done.
I love you,
Elder Bradley Edward McMullin